Effect of Metapragmatic Awareness on the Translation of Humor in an EFL Context

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Aliasghar Kargar ¹ (Shiraz University of Arts, Shiraz, Iran)
Rahman Sahragard ² (Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran)

Received: 2021-11-16 Accepted : 2022-01-16 Published : 2022-07-01

Keywords: humor, Translation competence, Grice conversation maxims, Incongruity-resolution theory, Metapragmatic awareness,

Abstract :

The present study aims at investigating the effect of translation students' metapragmatic awareness at the level of theory on the quality of their humor translations. For this purpose, an experimental study was designed with 50 junior students majoring in English translation during their oral translation course. They were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received instruction mainly on the implication of Grice’s conversational maxims within the incongruity-resolution theory of humor framework. They learned how violating the maxims might lead to incongruity in the jokes and that such an incongruity must be felt in their translations. The General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) was also briefly explained to increase their sensitivity towards the outcome of their translation. The control group, on the other hand, continued their usual course of oral translation. Both groups participated in pre-and post-tests of humor translation. Statistical analysis of the results using independent samples t-test for both pre-and post-tests revealed significant improvement in the quality of the experimental group's translations, yet the results also indicated their partial success in recognizing the violated maxims. The findings suggested the usefulness of explicit theoretical knowledge in the quality of the translation students' task and had the practical implication that since higher quality translation can result from the instruction on metapragmatics, it can be included in the translation students' syllabus.

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